Could we please have a permanent hardcore server?

[trancefate]

I only play for hardcore and I know there are many others like me these days.

It would be wonderful if we had one or both of:
- A permanent hardcore server (I want to risk death on a 10th past life character!)
- A rotating seasonal hardcore server that "resets" at a time interval but is always available.


Really just enjoy playing the game with stakes and a community again.



P.S. Merge the dang live servers already.

[Drecas]

1) What's stopping you from adopting a hardcore playstyle on the regular servers? I remember there being a permadeath guild on Argonessen, Mortal Voyage, I believe, with whom I ran a little bit a few years ago. You could try something like that.

2) Seeing what a mess Orien has become, I'm not too keen on a server merger. I like having servers I can escape to when the lag on Orien gets to be too much.

[Antheal]

1) What's stopping you from adopting a hardcore playstyle on the regular servers?

Other people not helping you stay alive.

[Enoach]

I like the concept of HC. But in my opinion having it permanent or having it too often will lose its 'special' feeling, it will also burn out players.

Now if a permanent Hard Core is implemented without 'special rewards' and is solely set up to help players find that Permadeath group I would not be against that and that might appeal to the Permadeath guilds.

[archest]

Hardcore is a contest event, not the game, glad you enjoy it.

[Dendrix]

I think this is a terrible idea

[KoobTheProud]

DDO is the only 1st/2nd generation MMO that has not established permanent servers with alternate rulesets.

[Hawkwier]

DDO is the only 1st/2nd generation MMO that has not established permanent servers with alternate rulesets.

This statement is factually incorrect. I play an MMO with a single live server and another test server. That's it.

[KoobTheProud]

This statement is factually incorrect. I play an MMO with a single live server and another test server. That's it.

What's the MMO?

[trancefate]

1) What's stopping you from adopting a hardcore playstyle on the regular servers? I remember there being a permadeath guild on Argonessen, Mortal Voyage, I believe, with whom I ran a little bit a few years ago. You could try something like that.

2) Seeing what a mess Orien has become, I'm not too keen on a server merger. I like having servers I can escape to when the lag on Orien gets to be too much.

1) This is a bad faith argument and I'll leave it at that since it doesn't deserve a more in depth response.
2) This game is a wasteland because it requires a critical mass of players which the servers do not have.

Whatever they have to do to merge servers and fix population and lag they need to do. It's already on life support and half of us only come around for hardcore.

[deuxanes]

I prefer the HC server like they do it now.

You have a break in between seasons and you can switch back to the normal servers, other games, real world stuff or whatever needs your attention. The devs have the time to come up with new HC challenges (e.g. mimics in chests, hounds, tinker with over level limits, etc.).

The best thing about the HC server is the reset and with it comes an item reset, a power reset and a past life reset.

With most races you start with a 28 point build and that makes it more interesting to build something that can survive.

Regarding the actual permadeath I'm a bit split. Yes, it changes the game a bit and it gets more difficult to a degree. Yes people want to play at the max difficulty possible. Even doing reaper at low levels. People still take the easy route and there are certain goals that help (e.g. phiarlan favour, guild buffs, etc.). Crafting is somewhat negligible in that setting.
People are avoiding certain quests where death is inevitable or higly likely.Why blame them for playing it safe.

Dunno if I really wanted something of a permament one death HC server. A "relaxed perma death setting" with a traditional permanent con penalty for each death (0 means permanent death, the penalty will persist through reincarnation or similar). When transferring a character the con penalty could be removed.
Alternatively have something like a stacking "raise failure chance". You die and get revived, you get one more stack. There is a cumulative chance that raising/ resurrection will fail eventually. If it fails then the character cannot be revived any more (then you can transfer it off the server). E.g. at the start have a 100% resurrection chance, then a 50% failure chance and then a 100% failure chance. Or 0% / 33% / 66% / 100%. The penalty would persist through reincarnation.

Tbh I don't care about the RXP or favour leader board nor the cosmetic items. The best thing is that you easily find parties in the first half of the HC season. The more the season has progressed and the more high level characters exist, people tend to play it safe to keep their rank in the leaderboards.

[Antheal]

Or just remove both resurrection shrines and resurrection scrolls, so that you have to party with someone who has the spell if you want to be raised.

[Careall]

1. There's a "bragging rights" reward for wearing the cosmetics or riding mounts gained from the achievements during each HC season. While I don't care too much, it is still fun to wear those badges of honor.
2. If HC were a server, there would be no unique seasons, which is a considerable component of the fun.
2a. Seasons could be events like the regular servers have, but it is fun recalling each season by a unique flavor: "Remember the hounds?!" versus "Remember season five?" (I don't recall which season hounds were).
3. HC is not only about permadeath, but it is a race to reach those achievements before the end of the season. A permanent server would lose that sense of urgency.
3a. Inversely, the pain of losing a toon on HC increases the longer you've played the toon. There would no doubt be rage-quitting DDO by triple completionists (exaggeration to illustrate the point) who died because the server lagged or crashed.
4. While the other servers should have some consolidation, there's a certain social aspect to folks from different servers meeting together on HC, like a big meet-and-greet party. The permanent servers don't learn "everything" about the game. HC has become the place to learn new and exciting things about DDO. There has not been a single season in which I did not learn something new.

Given that, it would be nice if HC were a regularly scheduled server, like three months on, three months off, and twice a year; with allowances for variation, such as a two-month run or delays resulting from technical difficulties.